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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

As you all know, I am a huge fan and supporter of people who make and sell their own jewellery online. When the lovely Sarah from Little Mouse Ears contacted me about her shop, I jumped at the chance. Here are the beautiful earrings she sent me...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Just a little bit of nail art (if you can even call it that) that I created last night! I was inspired by this post on Natalie's Nails, and this is my take on it!

Basically I did a couple of coats of OPI's 'Pink-ing of you' with OPI 'Teenage Dream' on the tips! Pretty, right? :o)

Sorry it's just a quick post! I am off out tonight and I can't wait!

Giveaway update: My NARS giveaway has finished and the results will be up asap! Also, I haven't got responses from some people who won my Aussie giveaway. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow evening I will be choosing other people.

You may be thinking "seriously, what's new?" but you will see that I have finally mastered(-ish) the liquid eyeliner thing!

I know all of you beauty bloggers will have been doing this since you were in nappies, but it has taken me, (middle name- Clumsy) years to get this right. Many a time I have attempted it, messed up and had to remove all of my eye makeup and start again. Over the past couple years I have tried many methods of application, gel, brush, cream and eventually the winner- PEN!

This Maybelline one is the best out of the couple I have tried, I just think the nib of the pen is thin enough to be almost foolproof, and the constant flow of product doesn't mean I am stopping and starting to reload my brush. Eventually I hope to buy a brush so I can put all of my fluidlines to good use, but until then I am really happy with this product! It's nice and black too, with the added bonus of minimal smudging. You may have noticed that I haven't mastered he 'flick', that is a work in progress!

The second new thing you may have noticed are my brows!

See I was brought up in the family of Blonde Hair + Dark Eyebrows = NO NO. However when I was at Julies make-up course, the girl filled in my brows slightly and I really liked the way it made them look. I found this brow brush that I bought ages ago, and after a sweep of my eyeshadows I settled on Busk from the UD Naked Palette to fill them in, just a little. I love it!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Yay! It's another blog post for the clumsy and wobbly handed people who just can't 'do' nail art- expecially not x10! You can find my first post about this here. Anyway, I saw this nail effect on LLYMLRS blog ages ago, and the other day I thought I'd give it a go myself!

Basically the idea is that you pick 5 polishes of the same colour, from light to dark to give that gradient effect. Yet again it is relatively simple and doesn't require a whole load of effort!

The only colour fields that I had enough block colours to do this with is pink and blue, here is what I came up with...

I really like the effect of this one, but when applied I thought the index finger and middle finger colours looked a little too alike- during the day I kept arguing with myself as I thought I had mixed them up.

I had some difficulty finding the right colours for this one as I definitely don't own 5 block blues, for this reason I was quite skeptical in using CG 'Sea Spray' (2nd from left) as it isn't a completely flat colour. Also, as you can tell from the name, Barry M indigo which is on my thumb is a deep purple. I think it works though - kind of. Anyway I won't be losing sleep over it!

Have you tried ombre nails? Link me to your posts, I would love to see them :o)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

This Tuesdays featured self tanner brings us into the realm of wash off tan. I have never been a fan of this sort of fake tan as the memory of using Rimmel's instant tan has put me right off - transfers like hell, icky shimmer, difficult to get even (if you were wondering).

When I was sent this product, I was skeptical to say the least!

For a mere £1.99, you get 100ml of product. Unlike in my past experience of wash off tan, this is a sparkle-less, gel formula.

It glides on really nicely and has a nice coconutty/fruity scent- no biscuit scents with this baby! The colour payoff is good and a little goes a long way.

As I am sure you can tell, the colour isn't super dark, however it is buildable and pretty much foolproof if you are a tanning newbie!

Also, I can confirm that this really does not transfer. Once it has sunk into your skin it stays there and is easily removed in the shower.

I really recommend this for experimenting with tan, or even just to deepen up what you have on already if needs be. For such a bargain price, this is a fab product.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Last Thursday evening I was lucky enough to attend the Beaut.ie awards in the uber swanky Dylan Hotel in Dublin.

It was great to hear all about the winners from the fabulous Beaut.ie girls as well as Xpose's Karen Koster. Some of the winners were surprising (Primark exfoliating gloves winning 'Best Body Gadget') and some impressive (MAC winning in 6 categories). Personally, I was delighted that my favourite hair care brand Aussie won best shampoo, conditioner and hair masque, very well deserved!

The unique thing about these awards is that they were decided by Irish girls (and guys?) over 60,000 votes, so it really reflects what we all love to use everyday. Plus, there was a great mix of high street and high end items that won, as well as many that have made their way onto my shopping list! How have I still not tried 'Best Mascara' Lancome Hypnose yet?

I attended the event with Julie and Aoife, and it was lovely to see so many other familiar blogging faces :o)

Julie, Aoife and I

There were gorgeous West Coast Cooler girls that kept our glasses topped up with yummy drinks all night long, as well as lovely little nibbles.

Below is a picture of us with the fabulous Joanna, she had the most amazing shoes on!

Julie, me, Joanne, Aoife

Also we were treated to lovely little gift bags...

I can't wait to try these out! Especially the Kiehl's, it's a brand I have never tried before.

In all, I had an amazing time! Thank you Julie for letting me stay with you and a huge thanks to Beaut.ie's Kirstie and Aisling for putting on a fabulous party! Bring on the 2012 awards! :o)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

So last night I went on a girls night out, all very fun and I am very much paying for it today- I just want to sleep!! Also I found out that more people than I thought know about my blog, so HAI girls, if you're reading this! <3

Anyway, this is what I wore...

Sorry the photo is sideways, I couldn't work out how to make it right-ways!

Unsure why, but this outfit made me feel like a bit of a secretary- I don't often wear all black, but I thought it worked last night.

LOL at me in the mirrors reflection in my pj's!

My dress is a Herve Leger rip off from New Look, available here. I think I will get some wear out of it around Christmas time with different coloured shoes and accessories- regardless, every girl needs a LBD, right? ;o)

My shoes were these patent courts from Faith...

They look filthy on camera but I promise they're not all that bad IRL! I got these years ago and hardly wore them, but I thought I'd dig them out for all times sake. They weren't all that comfortable though and I am currently nursing my poor feet in some super glam fuzzy socks!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

When I saw that ASOS had added some bits from the Illamasqua Toxic Nature collection to it's sale, I just couldn't resist. These are the goodies that I picked up...

I've been dying to try an Illamasqua nail polish for some time, but the €17 price tag put me off. When I saw the full range for just over a tenner, I really couldn't resist! I eventually narrowed down my choices to...

gamma, purity

Gamma was always my favourite from this collection. I have wanted a bright orange for some time but nothing has given me that bright bright orange. Purity was what I thought to be a perfect nude. IRL it's more peach, definitely comparable to Barry M's Peach Melba which I already own- oops! Anyway, that's another blog post.

Although I don't adore my other Illamasqua gloss, I couldn't resist one more! This is in the shade 'Torture' (cute name huh? :/) and is a bright bright orange. From previous experience, these do run quite sheer so hopefully it will give me the coral pop I am looking for!

This afternoon I couldn't resist painting my nails with Gamma, I am so impressed by this polish, it's absolutely gorgeous!

It's coming off kind of yellow here, however it is orange. Think highlighter orange! It dries to kind of a matte finish- not matte entirely but not sheeny shiny. I heart it!

On a completely different note, my little ipod arrived today! Got it from ebay for €60 as I no longer have an iPhone to play in my car. Or maybe I just wanted to show off this nail polish some more :o)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

To put things simply, I am a complete klutz. I trip over stuff, spill drinks down myself on an almost daily basis (white tops are a no-no) and still still, after years of trying cannot draw a straight liquid eyeliner-line. So I have had a little sad face when seeing all of the fantastic nail art around the bbloggersphere (Gem Fatale's leopard print nails, I am talking to you!). Even water marbling was a bit of a disaster...

So, how did I create this, you may ask...

srsly, who am I to lecture on nail art?! I can't even paint my nails correctly!

The answer? Stickers!

I got these from ebay a few weeks ago with the literal pennies I had left in my paypal. I believe they were about 80c each (50p?!) including postage from Hong Kong or somewhere.

Basically I painted my nails (MUA #16, if you were wondering), peeled off the stickers, placed them and then went over it all with my regular topcoat.

Not bad for a first attempt! *smug look*

Also, I was more than a bit touched by the little note and gift enclosed from the ebay seller...

little packet of blotting papers, 'a special gift' awww :o)

If that didn't make me so touched by that, the little note enclosed sure did:

Check the last line, the lovely chap went to the trouble of Google translating "Go raibh maith agat" which is Irish for 'Thank you' (so I am told) which was just so cute. Let's remind ourselves of the fact that I paid under a euro for this, including postage!

I hope you enjoyed my cheats guide to nail art, I plan to do many more stickery designs without the stress!

Monday, August 1, 2011

A video went up on my YouTube channel about a week ago, all about two Benefit dupes I have come across. The posts would be all too much and photo heavy to put them both in the same post, so the Benetint v. MeMeMe 'Pussy Cat' will be up tomorrow morning!

W7 'Double Act' vs. Benefit '10'

My version of '10' is a gift set type thing, so to compare packaging, I have photographed the 'Double Act' next to my box of 'Sugarbomb'.

Pretty similar packaging, don't you think?

Now, onto the actual goods!

The 'Double Act' actually claims to be a blush/bronzer duo, instead of highlight/bronzer, but when they are swatched the blush isn't all that pigmented, just slightly more pink toned than the '10' highlight.

As for the price, I paid €3.99 for the 'Double Act' and '10' retails at €30 or £25 here.

So, what do you think? Is Benefit 10 worth splashing out on?

Personally I am quite impressed with the W7, it has more than a passing resemblence to Benefit!